Ry Bradley first picked up a guitar at 11 years old and was mostly self taught while playing in bands and writing songs throughout high school in Hawaii. After receiving scholarships to the University of California in Irvine, he went on to earn his Bachelors degree in Guitar Performance under the mentorship of John Schneiderman. After 5 years of rigorous training in music theory, history, ensemble, and general skills like rhythm, sight reading and musical arrangement, what was missing was the dream of the 11 year old boy who wanted to shred and improvise on the electric guitar on a stage. So he went to Spain to clear his head and came back to study jazz, country and rock on the electric guitar under the tutelage of USC Guitar Instructor/Studio Musician Steve Trovato. He learned very quickly and took everything with him to Hawaii and went on to start Hawaii’s first rockabilly band “Suspicious Minds,” and was eventually featured on local Honolulu television shows whose episodes highlighted only the most popular aspects of the local scene. This local fame got him the Musical Director position for the Hawaii Opera Theatre production “Punk Rock Opera,” which provided the perfect opportunity to blend Ry’s knowledge of classical music with his love of all things gritty rock guitar. During this time, he also worked as a guitar instructor at the Waldorf Academy in Honolulu.

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When "Suspicious Minds" opened for a promising Los Angeles-based hard rock/rockabilly band called “Devil Doll,” they hit it off and when Devil Doll needed a new touring guitar player and reached out to find that Ry had moved back to the mainland. So, he was hired and spent the next 3 years touring the country, learning from and playing with other incredible musicians and developing the art of stage guitar performance.

 

Throughout all this time, he never stopped writing songs. He recorded and self produced a 12 song album that caught the attention of Nashville publisher and radio personality, Charlie Monk, which lead to a publishing deal and record contract with RQ Productions.  During the 4 year span of his contract, Ry’s song “New Kind of Lonely” was featured on SiriusXM “The Highway” and over 100 terrestrial radio stations throughout the country, he won the LA Music Awards “Country Artist of the Year,” and flew back and forth to Nashville to collaborate with some of the most influential and successful songwriters of the time including but not limited to Victoria Shaw (writer of “The River,” recorded by Garth Brooks), Radney Foster (whose songs have been recorded by Gary Allan, Sara Evans, Keith Urban, Hootie and the Blowfish and Jack Ingram),  Jim Weatherly (“Midnight Train to Georgia,” recorded by Gladys Knight), Doug Johnson (“3 Wooden Crosses” recorded by Randy Travis), Keb’ Mo’ (blues singer/songwriter and 4 time Grammy Award winner) and many others. 

 

After completing his contract with RQ Production, he hired some of the best musicians he could find, and started touring the western United States, Norway and Hawaii. He performed at venues such as Downtown Disney, Angels Stadium, Blaisedale Arena, Country Thunder Music Festival, Oakheart Music Festival, Orange County Fair, Los Angeles Fair, Fox 7 Austin, Whiskey A Go Go and opened for acts like Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Florida Georgia Line, Kellie Pickler, Scotty McCreery and Tyler Farr.

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Throughout this life as a musician, Ry never forgot what it was like to try to teach himself, and how much more he learned and how much more quickly he got better from having someone take the time to really teach him, and how all of that combined made him the musician, and the teacher, he is today. 

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Ry now lives in Nashville, the creative epicenter for music, fulfilling on his dream of writing and collaborating on songs in many different genres, and spreading the love and passion for guitar that has been the driving force through it all.

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